“Mee dolkara dolkara, dolkara dariyacha raja”
If you have ever been hearing Marathi music, the strains of this mesmerizing song could surely not have escaped your ears. If you have ever lived in Mumbai, you could not have missed the quintessential koli tribe - the fisherwomen with their huge baskets of fish, yelling at the top of their voices in the fish markets.
The kolis are essentially fisherfolk, the original inhabitants of Mumbai, when Mumbai was not a sprawling city like it is today, but a group of 7 small fishing islands. Their deity is a goddess named “Mumbadevi” from where the city is believed to derive its name. Apart from a strong cultural heritage which has its roots in the fishing villages of the Konkan coast, a mouthwatering fish-centered cuisine, the koli tribe is also reputed for its love for music and dance.
The koli geet (music of the kolis) has a distinctive tangy edge to it, which makes you immediately feel as if you are either standing along the shore feeling the sea breeze blowing softly on your face or rocking gently on a fisherman’s boat. Koli music has been captured on celluloid by Raj Kapoor’s Bobby with “Naa chahoon sona chandi, naa maangu heera moti”, Sabse Bada rupaiya with “Dariya kinare ik bungalow ga pori”, and Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi with “Galiyant sakhli sonyaachi”, to name a few. However, this at best serves to reach out to a larger audience to give them a slight flavour of the magic of koli sangeet. But to get to the true essence of the folk music, one must enjoy it in its traditional language – in this case, Marathi.
This is where an album like “Geet Shilp” scores. Recorded sometime in the mid-1970s, the songs are sung mainly by Lata Mangeshkar with music by her talented brother, Pt. Hridaynath Mangeshkar. This album helped in popularizing this genre of music because of the presence of mainstream artistes.
I’m listing below the tracks in detail along with their interpretation as I understood them:
- Mee dolkara dolkara dolkara dariyacha raja
(sung by Lata Mangeshkar & Hemant Kumar)
Lyrics: Shanta Shelke
The track opens with the chorus “vallav re nakwa o vallav re rama” which is sung by boatmen while sailing the boat. The song is sung by a fishercouple with the two identifying themselves completely with the profession. One beautiful line from this song, “ghar panyaavari, bandaraavar karito ye jaa” which means that “my house is in the seas, I only come and go on the land”. Lilting and haunting music makes this number an ever popular one, with many non-Maharashtrian public too enjoying this track.
- Vaadal vaara sutla ga(sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Shanta Shelke
This song focuses on the sea breeze, essaying the feelings of the boatmen as they try to maneouvre their boat through the rough winds.
- Maajhya saaranga, raja saaranga (sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Shanta Shelke
Here the boatmen are urged to return to their homes carefully taking adequate precautions due to the storm in the seas.
- Asaa bebhaan haa vaaraa(sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Mangesh Padgaonkar
In this song, a koli woman is desperately trying to reach her lover, but due to the storm in the seas, she is unable to take her boat out. Apart from the lovely lyrics, the main highlight of the song is the furious strings in the background which very effectively convey the storm in the seas as well as the mind of the protagonist.
- Maalavoon taak deep, chetavoon ang ang
(sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Suresh Bhatt
This is a beautiful song where a koli girl asks her lover to stay back, since they haven’t met for a long time. The metaphors used throughout the song are very creative.
- Mehendichya paanaavar (sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Suresh Bhat
This may not necessarily classify as a koli song, but it’s exhilarating nevertheless. The song is about a woman who is still awaiting for her fulfillment. The music and the rendition are superb despite the fact that it is a difficult song to sing.
- Aaj gokulaat rang khelato hari (sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Suresh Bhatt
This song describes the raas-leela of Shri Krishna at Gokul where he plays holi with the gopis. The beat of the song is similar to the dandiya beat and therefore stands out from the rest of the songs in the album.
- Saavar re saavar re unch unch zhulaa
(sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
Lyrics: Mangesh Padgaonkar
This is a rather reflective and philosophical song – figuratively its about somebody sitting on a swing and is asked to take care. The music of the first line is suited to exactly fit the movement of a swing. As the swing moves higher and higher, one can touch the skies, gets new experiences, but one needs to take care of the ropes attached to the swing.
Recommendation:
Connoisseurs of Marathi music will note that “Geet Shilp” was among the first albums to capture the beauty of koli folk songs. Almost all the songs of this album have become immensely popular with the masses for the past 3 decades. After this effort, there have been scores of albums over the past 2 decades which have been sung by various artistes, some of them originating from the koli tribe itself. However, none of them have reached the level of popularity of this pioneering work. For those who are familiar with these songs, they would surely be possessing this album already. To the rest, I would certainly recommend one hearing of these songs to get a feel of the music of these simple fisherfolk. I’m sure you will be hooked, line and sinker!
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